Michelle Alexander Quotes

The legal battle against segregation is won, but the community battle goes on.

We are fighting for an unapologetic movement for economic, social, and racial justice in the United States.

Black people come in so many different bodies, genders, and sexualities, so it's important that we're conscious of that so we can fight for a world that embraces and uplifts black people of every kind. Our voices are powerful and have the ability to make change.

The status quo tough-on-crime policies of the '90s and 2000s are not working and are not popular. And it provides me with hope about the possibilities for San Francisco and this whole country in terms of moving away from our dependence on prisons and jails to solve social problems.

I want all of the work that I do to have a social justice footprint attached. I want it to move the needle forward when it comes to the perception of all people, but especially people of color.

It's the new slavery. It came out of the drug laws and it really is something we're going to have to confront, but I don't see enough people up in arms about that. We need to be.

Imprisonment, as it exists today, is a worse crime than any of those committed by its victims.

We must build a movement for education, not incarceration. A movement for jobs, not jails. A movement that will end all forms of discrimination against people released from prison - discrimination that denies them basic human rights to work, shelter and food.

However, while we should certainly celebrate the demise of overt official racism, we must also critically examine where we are at this historical moment, recognize the many challenges ahead and reaffirm our commitment to making Brown v. Board a reality.

Homeboy Industries has chosen to stand with the 'demonized' so that the demonizing will stop; it stands with the 'disposable' so that the day will come when we stop throwing people away.

I am a strong believer that without justice, there is no peace. No lasting peace, anyway.

I'm suggesting that we abolish the social function of prisons.

Certainly we can end racism with love. We can demand that the federal government change its emphasis on racial distinction.

Once the fabric of a just society is undone, it takes generations to weave it back together.

It is feasible for someone who comes from a privileged background to understand the privilege they have had and to use the formal political arena in a way that would disperse power and engage with people in their own lives.

Collectively, we activists are essential to advancing U.S. policy to help empower marginalized people to lift themselves and their communities out of poverty for good.

I want justice to be so pervasive that it will be taken for granted, just as injustice is taken for granted today.

In the women's movement, women needed men to stand up and say, 'This isn't right.' In the civil rights of the '60s, it took people of all color to demand equal rights.

I'm a prison abolitionist because the prison system as it is set up is just not working. It's horrible.

Remember, social progress only happens when those in society's privileged classes choose to give up their status.

People have got to get together and work together. I'm tired of the kind of oppression that white people have inflicted on us and are still trying to inflict.

Reconciliation should be accompanied by justice, otherwise it will not last. While we all hope for peace it shouldn't be peace at any cost but peace based on principle, on justice.

The institutionalization of Black Studies, Feminist Studies, all of these things, led to a sense that the struggle was over for a lot of people and that one did not have to continue the personal consciousness-raising and changing of one's viewpoint.

Social justice is what drives me; it's why I'm here.

One needs to place the spotlight more on vulnerable groups of the population such as minorities, indigenous populations, migrants, and historically disadvantaged communities. Placing the spotlight on them brings their plight to the fore and enables the forging of a national consensus to act for their relief and protection.